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The Salomon S/Lab Phantasm 3 is a significant step up on the carbon plate racers we’ve seen from Salomon in the past, with a bouncy, lightweight design and an innovative upper that aims to make you more aerodynamic.
While we found the upper more trouble than it’s worth, the performance of the Phantasm 3 did impress us. We rate a few of the best carbon plate running shoes more highly though, like the Asics Metaspeed Sky Tokyo and Puma Fast-R Nitro Elite 3, but the Phantasm 3 is a competitive racer.
Design & Key Stats
- Price: £260/$280
- Weight: 185g/6.5oz (UK 9/US 10)
- Drop: 6mm
- Stack: 39mm heel, 33mm forefoot
- Upper: Mesh upper with fabric covering laces
- Midsole: OptiFOAM+ PEBA foam with Energy Blade carbon plate
- Outsole: Minimal rubber on forefoot and heel
Salomon S/Lab Phantasm 3 review
How’s The Fit
Nick and Kieran tested the Salomon S/Lab Phantasm 3 for our review and found that it fit well for length. Nick found the fit very comfortable in general but Kieran found it a bit on the narrow side for his wider feet. It is a hard shoe to get on because of the fussy upper, however, and given the purported aerodynamics benefits won’t really apply in the real world, in our opinion, it’s an annoying upper to have to deal with.
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The Run Test: Likes
The Phantasm 3 is the lightest racer from Salomon yet, and the bounciest as well. The updates to the shoe make it more competitive with the top racers available, and it feels fast and efficient for interval, and tempo workouts, as well as races.
It’s a comfortable carbon shoe too, with the PEBA midsole foam cushioning the impact of long runs well. It’s soft, but not extremely so, sitting in between firmer racers like the Puma Deviate Nitro Elite 4 and very soft options like the Asics Metaspeed Ray.
The springy ride is great for tempo and progression runs in particular, and the Phantasm 3 would be a good long-distance racer, something Kieran tested out during the Oakley 20-miler. It saves the legs well too, and we bounced back quickly from hard long runs in the shoe.
While it’s not the lightest or most aggressively rockered shoe, it’s also good for short reps. Nick did a variety of hard track workouts in the Phantasm 3 tackling 400m reps and it proved very capable of that kind of short-distance speed.
The Run Test: Dislikes
The Phantasm 3 is not as wildly unstable as some carbon racers, but it is still quite a wobbly shoe, and for all the cushioning it has Kieran also found that he started to get a bit too much ground feel in the later stages of his 20-miles race.
While a fast and light shoe, it also doesn’t feel quite as aggressive and fast as some options, like the Puma Fast-R 3 or Hoka Cielo X1 3.0, which are more rockered, and it’s not as light as many of our favourite racers.
The aerodynamics benefit is also something that won’t make any notable difference to runners in the real world, and almost serves to distract from the enjoyable ride of the shoe, because it’s a pain to put it on.
Verdict And Alternatives
The Salomon S/Lab Phantasm 3 is an impressive super-shoe, but there are a lot of those around right now, and it doesn’t quite hit the heights of the best running shoes for racing we’ve tested.
Our top options right now are the Puma Fast-R 3 and Asics Metaspeed Edge Tokyo and Sky Tokyo, with a nod to the Mizuno Hyperwarp Pure for short events and the Asics Metaspeed Ray if you are on board with its very soft and springy (and so unstable) ride.
The Phantasm 3 doesn’t do enough to stand out on either price or performance to make it a top pick for us, but if you do pick it up you can expect an enjoyable bouncy and fast ride. Once you’ve managed to get it on your foot.